


Out-Of-Town Friends

by byleeer_babie



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), M/M, Pre-Relationship, byler, no beta we die like men, theyre like 17, will has some new friends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:41:18
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,667
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27546253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/byleeer_babie/pseuds/byleeer_babie
Summary: Will has been sneaking off somewhere every Friday night... it's about time Mike found out where to...
Relationships: Will Byers/Mike Wheeler
Comments: 8
Kudos: 37





	Out-Of-Town Friends

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not very creative with titles as you can probably tell lol (or summaries.) Anyway, I hope you like this!

**_Friday, 13:07_ **

"So, we all good to meet at mine before heading off to Jennifer Hayes' party?" A very eager looking Dustin asks the Party during lunch. The group are enjoying their meals peacefully in the library (well not Lucas as he had forgotten his.) 4 out of the 5 the teenagers nod, one of them not responding at all as he is daydreaming. "Hey Byers, what about you? Byers?"

Will snaps out his thoughts, giving Dustin a startled look. "Sorry," he apologises. "What were you saying?" His friend gives him an unamused look as he wraps up the rest of his ham sandwich back in its tinfoil.

"I was _saying_ ," he sighs, rummaging through the brown paper back which held his lunch, "we're all gonna meet at my place before going to Jennifer Hayes' party. Are you able to do that? I'm driving."

Dustin pulls out a green apple, grimaces at it and chucked to Lucas who had forgotten to grab his lunch in the morning and had refused to eat the from the cafeteria.

("It's disgusting! They don't wear gloves! Or hairnets!" He reminded Max as she sat next to him with a plate full of what the dinner ladies called 'pasta'.

"Well then do something about Mr School Council President." His girlfriend remarked.)

Will glances at Dustin and the Party with a blank face. "Party...?"

Dustin groans, "Jennifer Hayes' party?! The one I've been going on about for the last 10 minutes?"

"Yeah, about that, please stop." El complains, massaging her temples. "I'm getting headache."

"Sorry." Will apologises again, sheepishly, "I wasn't listening."

"That's our Cleric," Mike pipes up with a grin, "Always daydreaming."

Will rolls his and blushes, Mike _was_ right though, he supposes. He _does_ let his mind trail away from the real world frequently.

"It's Jennifer Hayes' party." Dustin explains.

"I heard _that_ bit."

Dustin playfully sticks his tongue out to the Byers boy. "Yeah, well I had to make sure didn't I, asshole." Will throws a napkin at the curly haired brunet, grinning. "It's on Friday."

"Wait, _Friday_? _This_ Friday?"

"Yes."

"I can't go." Will says. The Party stared at him, and he shrinks down into the bench he was sitting on.

"What do you mean, you _can't go_?" His ginger haired friend, Max, asks him. She had previously been batting away her boyfriend from stealing her cupcake, but Lucas stopped trying to take it to look at Will with a questioning glance.

" _I can't go_."He repeats slower, as if trying to teach a child the alphabet. He is stopped though by his best friend who gives him a slight push.

"Ok smart-ass, why not?" Mike asks him.

"I'm going out." He replies, looking down at his fingers. "Can y'all stop staring at me, it's getting creepy." he jokes.

The Party avert their gazes, all looking a little disappointed that Will wasn't going to join them on Friday. El, however, seems intrigued.

"What, you mean with a _girl?_ "She asks, capturing the attention of his other friends. One's in particular.

Will stares at her, startled, "No! No, I'm just going out of town to meet some friends."

"As in meeting friends and going out of town or meeting out-of-town friends?" Lucas inquires.

" _What_?"

Max snickers.

"What part of what I'm saying are you guys not getting?" Will asks. Were the Party really not understanding what he was saying? He is speaking English, right? "I'm going out of town to meet up with some friends. _Friends from out of town_."

Will's friends all gave a shallow sigh indicating that they finally understood.

"Well that sucks." Dustin complains. "Our Cleric isn't gonna be with us at Jennifer Hayes' party."

"She won't miss me." Will shrugs.

"Didn't she dance with you at the Snowball in '84?" Lucas asks.

"I can't even remember. Man, that was so long ago!" The Party members chuckle, thinking back to the memory. "Besides, I bet she just asked to dance with me because nobody else would dance with her."

"At least she knows your name...?"

"She called me Zombieboy."

Dustin lifts his shoulders in a shrug, "Oh well. She's too popular for us anyway. I'm just glad we got invited to her Party."

Will glances at his friend with an amused look, "Did we even get invited?"

Dustin gives the Party a sheepish smile as they all look at him expectantly. "Right... about that... I haven't gotten round to asking her if we could come."

The Party erupts in a mixtures of groans and laughs as they all complain to Dustin.

#

**_2 weeks later, Friday 15:58_ **

Will was just putting some of his books back into his locker before heading to meet the party in the car park, but Mike had decided to come meet him at his locker first.

"Hey... Mike?" Will is surprised to see the ravenet there. Mike decides to ignore his questioning glance.

"Hey Will! I was just wondering if you wanted to come over to my house in the evening with the others? I've got _Jaws: The revenge_ on DVD!" Mike exclaims excitedly, knowing that one of Will's favourite horror films was Jaws.

His smile falters though as his best friend doesn't seem as excited as he thought.

"Mike..." He starts, regretfully.

"C'mon Will, don't tell me you don't like _Jaws_ anymore!"

"No, it's not that! I-I can't come. I'm going out again-"

Mike's grin drops further and suppresses himself from frowning. "Out-of-town friends?"

"Yeah." The boy nodded. Will would offer to cancel, but _honestly_ , he doesn't really want to. "I'm sorry... it's just, I only get see them once a week... maybe Saturday or Sunday?"

Mike nods, a little disappointed, which caused Will to frown deeper. "I am really sor-"

"It's fine, Will, really. I get it, you should go see your friends."

His best friend beamed, which of course, only draws one on Mike's own face. "Thanks man, I promise we'll hang out this weekend. We can go to the Palace or go see Steve and Robin and-"

And the boys walks out of school, happily discussing their plans for the weekend.

**_;_ **

Mike had decided to cancel all the plans for that Friday. Instead, he's going with Will to meet his out-of-town friends. Well, not exactly _with_ Will, more like following behind him in his car, trying not to be noticed. He isn't trying to be creepy. He isn't _stalking_ Will, just seeing where he goes every Friday.

Ok kind of creepy, but not intentionally!

Mike is kind of upset that Will always blows him off on Fridays- well he has for the last few weeks anyway. And Mike doesn't like it. In a way, he feels like he deserves it. He used to do this with El in the year if '85, before they had decided to be just friends. Poor Will, short, bowl cut Will Byers; all he wanted to do was play D&D, and Mike had just disregarded him the entire summer.

He had even gone as far as _arguing_ with him, which never happens.

Mike doesn't like to think of the memory.

It's 5:34, and Mike is waiting in his car a few hundred metres away from the Byers' residence. It's already dark (hallelujah for mid-November!) so Mike doesn't have to worry about being seen. He knows to be waiting around half 5 as last week, Will had told the Party that he could only stay at the Palace until 30 past 5 so he could beat the traffic on his way out of Hawkins.

He's lucky though; Will is walking out to his car only minutes after half past. If Mike was a little late, that was it, his plan wouldn't have been able to go through. He watches as Will pulls his second-hand car out of his drive and down the road.

Slowly, and somewhat _sneakily_ , Mike follows him, keeping a bit of a distance between the car and his own. He really hopes that wherever Will goes on Fridays is worth missing vital hanging out time with himself.

Around 25 minutes later, Mike finds that he is running low on gas which _terrific!_ He didn't expect the place to be _this_ far. Will had driven past the Leaving Hawkins sign, long ago. Thankfully though, Mike notices that they have started going into small inside roads, instead of staying on the mains, which he hopes means that they are almost there.

Almost _where_? He has no idea.

Will is beginning to slow down now, and Mike finally sees that they have reached a bright, glowing building. The music coming from inside is loud and could probably be heard from a mile away. In fact, Mike is surprised he _hadn't_ heard it before. He sees the neon lights glaring at him through his frosty car windows and Mike is able to read the name of the place.

_Rainbow_

... _bar_?

Will has lead Mike to a _bar_? Mike stares shocked at the building but when he hears a large blare of a horn from behind him, he hastily pulls into the small car park nearby.

As he clambers out of his car after parking it, he squints his eyes to try and spot his best friend in the dark. He finds him at the place where he is paying for his place in the car park. Mike quickly jogs towards the Byers boy.

This _is_ _not_ part of the plan. Mike was not expecting Will to bring him to a bar!

When he catches his best friend, the look on Will's face can only be described as pure shock.

"M-Mike?" The short boy asks, disbelief evident in his voice. "What are you _doing_ here?"

Mike swallows nervously, "I wanted to meet your out-of-town friends...?" He tries, chuckling lowly.

Wrong move.

In a flash, Will's face changes from shock to _anger._ "Y-you shouldn't _be_ _here_!" He yells. Before Mike can defend himself, he is cut off. "What, are-are you _stalking_ me or something?! I can't even meet my friends with out people watching and worrying about my every move! I do not need a _babysitter_! Was is it my mom? Did she set you up to do this?"

Mike stares at his friend, bewildered. "No!"

"Then what?" What are you doing here?" Mike figures that it isn't the right time to make a joke about being in a pop quiz. He stutters for an answer.

"Man, I just wanted to know why you always cancel our plans on Fridays!"

"To meet up with some friends! Do you not believe me or something?"

"No! I mean, I do! Of course I do!" Mike yells, exasperated. He looks around, back to the building. "Come on, Will. You always leave without telling us where you're going, and I get worried!"

"What do you think I do with my friends? We don't buy drugs and get drunk! We actually talk and just hang out with each other like I do with the Party!"

Mike hesitates, "Well we are at a bar."

Will groans and shoves the taller boy, catching him off guard. "You asshole!"

"Ok sorry! Sorry! I shouldn't have said that." Mike sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Look Will, you're right, I shouldn't have come here without telling you. I'm sorry."

Will huffs in annoyance, crossing his arms. After a beat he looks back at Mike. "I didn't hurt you did I?" He asks referring to the push.

Mike shakes his head, risking a smirk. "Your not very strong, Byers."

"Don't test me Wheeler." Will calls, strutting past him. Behind his shoulder, he yells for Mike to follow him in. "Might want to pay for your car first though."

After Mike has put a ticket in his car, both boys begin walking to the entrance to the bar. "So have you got like a fake ID or something." The curly haired boy asks his best friend, who shakes his head.

"They don't check." Mike shrugs as they walk through the door.

Immediately, he is hit with a surge of heat with was nice compared to the freezing temperatures outside. Blindly, he follows Will through the tables. Will is nervous, he notices. _Why is he nervous._ "I like it here." Mike tells him, receiving a small smile.

And he does. It's nice, there are many lights illuminating the bar and not many people where there so there wasn't much noise, despite the loud music.

Finally Will leads him to a small 4- table where two other girls are already seated. One has dark skin and a shaved yellow Afro, a lip rig hanging from her red-painted mouth. She is laughing loudly at something her companion has said, exposing her pearly teeth.

The other girl has died pink hair, underneath a black beanie. Her arms were covered in tattoos. In all honesty, Mike finds them quite intimidating and he can't believe that Will Byers is friends with them. His doubts are closed when they both shot up a hand to wave at the brunet.

He timidly walks up to the table and awkwardly watches as Will smiles and hugs the tattooed girl and fist bumps Lip Ring.

"High guys!" He says, a smile unleashing onto his lips. "Uh Mike this is Jemma and Carly." He says pointing to Lip Ring first and then to Beanie. "Guys... Mike Wheeler."

He awkwardly 'meets' with the two girls before sitting down onto one of the chairs around the table. As he listens to the conversation between the others around him (something about movies) he looks back around the bar.

It is filled with people he wouldn't expect. Some had lots of tattoos and piercings. Some had died their hair colours Mike didn't even know could be used on hair,- hell- some didn't even have hair, including women! There aren't many people in the building as it is barely 7 but Mike is definitely intrigued by those he could see. He can also see that all the people are ok with being very far into each other's comfort zones.

He even spotted two girls _kissing_. In despite of himself, Mike blushes and looks away.

He zones back into the conversation when he sees Jemma lean forward across, speaking in a low voice to Will.

"Hey Will, don't look now but Charlie is totally checking you out." Mike freezes and looks behind to _indeed_ see a boy around their age with black hair staring at the back of his best friend's head, a small blush on his cheeks. Will doesn't turn around or says anything.

Carly giggles, cling onto Jemma's arm. "You should go out with him! We've talked to him and he's quite sweet. _And_ he had a big fat crush on you." An unpleasant feeling rests in Mike's stomach, which he had only felt when he used to see El talking to other boys back when they were still dating.

_Jealousy._

Again, Will doesn't say anything, excusing himself to go to the bathroom, with a quick side wards glance towards Mike. Mike frowns at the two girls in front of him, Carly who is still giggling and Jemma who is smirking at him, leaning on her arm.

"So Mike." She starts to talk to him. "What brings you here? You got a thing for Byers?"

Mike stares, dumbfounded. "No! No, he's my best friend, that would be weird!" Mike is very aware that he is as red as tomato.

"Ok... then are you here because you've realised your new attraction to boys?" Carly asks.

"No! I- I don't like boys. I-I-I just wanted to meet Will's out-of-town friends." He stutters. Carly and Jemma share a knowing luck. Carly opens her mouth to say something but is cut off as Will has returned from the toilet, his cheeks pink.

Mike is thankful he is back. He doesn't talk to the girls for the rest of the night.

-

After the boys had left the bar, Mike asked Will if he wanted to stay over at his house for the night. Will had accepted and the boys were now in the Wheeler's basement, exhaustion running through their veins. After what feels like a decade of silence, Will speaks up with a timid voice.

"Do you hate me?" He asks.

Mike stares at him, a shocked look on his face. "What?"

Will sighs at his friend's obliviousness, "Mike do you know where we went to this night?"

"A bar..."

"Yes." Pause. "But there's something else."

"What?" Mike is confused, it was just a bar wasn't it?

"Mike," Will sighs, "that was...a gay bar."

Mike stays silent for awhile, expressionless. "Ok..."

Will looks at him with scared, hazel eyes. "You didn't answer my question. Do you hate me?"

That question is enough to snap Mike out of his trance. "Hate you? Will, I could never _hate_ you."

Will sniffs loudly, bringing up a sleeve to wipes at his eyes. "But I took you to a _gay bar,_ Mike. That's where I've been going every Friday. Mike, I'm _gay_."

Mike reaches over to wrap around his arm around Will's shaking shoulders. "I'm a _fag,_ Mike." He sobs.

Mike gives a hard stare to his best friend. "You are not a fag, Will Byers. You're gay, and that's fine! I don't see you any differently. Ok, Will?"

Will sobs a gain, shoulders racking. " _Ok_ , Will?"

Will looks up with wet eyes, his green orbs catching Mike's dark brown ones. "Ok."

"So, Jemma and Carly. Are they...?"

"Yes."

"They're cute together." Will chuckles, his throat thick.

"Yeah, they are."

Mike smiles at his best friend. "C'mon Will the Wise. It's been a long night. Time to get some beauty sleep."

Mike stands and holds his hand out to Will, who takes it. The two friends make their way up to Mike's room, getting ready for a relaxing weekend ahead.

**_;_ **

That night, Mike lies in his sleeping bag on the floor. Even though the two boys are in Mike's room, he had kindly offered for Will to take the bed. Will, who had declined profusely at first, eventually gave up and took the offer graciously.

Now Mike is going over the day's events in his head. _A gay club_. Will had been going to a gay club every Friday. There's nothing wrong about it, but Mike is surprised. Sure, Will was never interested in girls, and he always changed the subject when romance came up, _and_ he always blushed when he was put with Dan to do a project in Chemistry...

_Oh shit._

Mike's eyes widen in realisation. He sits up slightly and turns to look at his best friend. Will lies peacefully in the bed, his soft snores pushing up his brown fringe every once in a while. The evidence has been there all along. Mike curses himself for being so oblivious.

And _he_ had followed, no _stalked_ him, forcing Will to reveal his biggest secret, because Will was too polite to tell Mike to leave. Mike groans to himself quietly. He had forced Will to share his secret. A secret which he had probably been thinking a way to tell the Party on his own, or maybe not even tell them at all!

 _God_ , Mike feels awful.

He thinks of the bar. Thinks how the idea of Jemma and Carly being together doesn't disgust him. Two girls dating didn't seem as bad as his father always says. He also thinks of the boy- Charlie?- who was staring at Will. He remembers the jealousy bubbling up in the pit of his stomach.

Jealousy. That was the feeling he felt. Why would he feel...

Could Mike...

 _No, no way_.

He thinks back to Jemma's words.

That would mean- no definitely not.

 _But Will_ -

No Mike isn't gay. _No._

But he _could_ be.

Mike squeezes his eyes. It's been a long night,. and he's tired. He's over thinking things. He doesn't have a crush on Will. He turns on his side, willing himself to go to sleep.

;

**_The next Friday, 09:12_ **

Mike is having a crisis. The _whole_ week, he had been thinking of his 'crush' on Will Byers. And the more he thinks about it, the more sense it makes. How he smiles every time he sees Will. How he notices Will's whole face light up when he's with the Party. How he always gazes at Will's lips or his eyes. _God_ , his eyes.

Mike is pretty sure a normal- a _straight_ person-doesn't do this about their best friend. At first, Mike just thought he was overthinking. But now, now he knows he likes Will.

 _More than a friend_.

And the thought is stressing him out. He wants to talk to someone about it. But _who_? He can't tell his parents-they would disown him. The thought of his parents, makes Mike hate himself. They would never accept him.

He can't tell the Party, not yet. He can't tell Steve or Robin. They might accept him, but he can't be certain. He's not willing to risk losing them yet. He can't tell _Will_. That would be great.

_Hey Will, I've been thinking about it and I'm pretty certain that I'm in love you and I probably have been forever and I just wanted to tell you, do you want to be my boyfriend?_

That never works, not even in the movies. He _could_ talk to Will's out-of-town friends. He could ask Will to take him to the The Rainbow that night with him, and just talk to them.

Yeah, he'll do that.

**_;_ **

**_13:26_ **

"Hey Will!" Mike calls, catching Will at his locker. Will turns to look at him, a nsmile on his face.

"Hey Mike." He says, swapping his History textbook with a French one. "What's up?"

Mike hesitates, wringing his pale fingers "I was just wondering if your going to go see your out-of-town friends today?" Will frowns at him, raising one of his eyebrows.

"Yeah... I am."

"Right I was just wondering if I could go with you?" Mike asks.

Will shrugs, "I guess. Why do want to go?"

"Oh I just wanted to hang out with you tonight. My parents are going out and Holly's gonna be at her friend's house, so I'll be home alone."

Will raises his eyebrows again, an amused look on his face. He lowers his tone, leaning into Mike. "So you'd rather go with your friend to a gay bar than stay at home and be able to do whatever you want without your parents stopping you?"

Mike stares blank faces and shrugs. "Yeah...?"

Will snorts, "Your crazy man."

Mike blushes crimson. "Hey! How am I supposed to have fun when I have no one to do anything fun with?"

Will thinks for a second before looking up at the ravenet. "Have you watched _Jaws_ yet?" Mike shakes his head no. "Well maybe I could come over and we can watch it?"

Mike furrows his eyebrows. "But what about Jemma and Carly?"

"Jemma's out of the country on a residential with her college. I can call Carly and tell her I won't be able to make it tonight? Then we can hang out together!"

Despite his plan to speak with the girls, Mike's face lights up. "Yeah, that would be great!"

Will beams, "Alright, well see you later then Mike." He says and he walks to his next class, whilst Mike waves at him.

 _Another plan gone wrong_ , Mike sighs.

;  
**_11:26_**

"So," Will asks going through the almost empty bowl of popcorn, putting a few rejected kernels in his mouth. "How come you wanted to go to the the Rainbow with me today?"

Mike turns the volume down of the movie, as all that was playing was the ending credits. "To hang out with you."

Will narrows his eyes at Mike. "Are you sure?"

Mike stares at the Byers boy; he hopes Will doesn't know he's lying. "Yeah... why?"

"Nothing nothing..." Will replies. He opens his mouth again, but seems to decide against it because he closes it again. Mike knocks their knees together, indicating that Will should carry on. "Did... did Jemma or Carly _say_ anything to you on Friday?"

Mike is surprised at the question, but _yes_ , Jemma and Carly had opened a whole new book for Mike. "They..."

"What?"

"They thought I was gay."

Will eyes widen slightly. He rubs the back of his neck. "And...?"

"I... don't know." Mike responds, and it's true. He has _no fucking clue_. Hesitantly, he adds: "They also asked if I have a thing for _you_."

The colour of Will's face turns from pale to bright red, before Mike can even blink. "I was, ha, I was actually talking to Jem the other day and she asked me the same thing."

Mike leans forward, because this is _new_. "What did you say?" Will doesn't respond for a while, as if thinking of what to say. In the end, he doesn't answer the question at all.

"What did _you_ say?"

Mike eyebrows furrow. "I asked you first!"

"I asked you _second_." Will mocks, eyes glinting. Mike huffs in annoyance, he just can't win, can he?

"I said that it would be weird because you're my best friend."

Will nods slowly, "I said the same." After a moment, he adds with a chuckle, "she thinks we're both in denial."

Mike grins, his face turning red. In all honesty, he thinks he has been pushing away his feelings for his best friend. _Too long_. And now he's doing it again.

Will looks at Mike briefly. "Ok well... I should probably head home now." He says, getting up suddenly.

"Wait Will- I thought you were staying over?" He asks urgently, standing up as well.

"Yeah... I remembered I have a shift tomorrow morning at the Palace so I can't stay over."

"You don't work Saturdays." Mike frowns. Will looks at him for a second. He shrugs and begins to gather his stuff. "Will hey, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

" _Will_."

" _Mike_."

Mike grabs onto the brunet's arm. "Is it something I said?"

"No it's- it's nothing, Mike. I'm fine."

"You don't look fine!"

"Mike c'mon, let go." He groans tugging at his clothed arm.

"Tell me what's wrong. What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything. It's me." Will sighs. "I guess I'm just disappointed. I mean Jem- she made me believe that you like me! It's stupid, I know. But I can't help hoping ok?

"I mean, why would you wanna go back to a gay bar? I thought... I thought you liked me, or at least boys. And y'know, it felt nice, because I thought my feelings were mutual. But I'm just an idiot." He looks at Mike with his green orbs. Mike stays silent. "Sorry if I made this weird. I'll go now."

"Wait Will!" Mike says, catching Will again. "You're not an idiot. I am."

"What?"

"Jemma is right, I do have a thing for you. I think I have for a while. I was thinking about it last Friday whilst you were asleep, and I realised that I- I have feelings for you."

Will stares, shocked.

"I guess I have been in denial, which means Jemma was right _again_. And you... you're saying you have feelings for me; it's not stupid. Not if I feel the same way."

Will doesn't say anything for a long time. "You, you _like_ me?"

" _Yes_." Mike chuckles. "Very much actually. And the reason I wanted to go to the Rainbow with you tonight was because I wanted to ask Jemma and Carly about my feelings. They knew I liked you before _I_ knew I liked you."

Will laughs, "Yeah that's the thing with gay people. A lot of them have this thing- a gaydar I think? It basically means they're psychic."

Mike smiles. "Well thank god for your out-of-town friends." He says, pulling Will back down onto the sofa. "You're gonna stay over then?"

"Why not?" Will laughs, giving Mike's cheek a kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Please drop a comment or a kudo, if you can/ want to- it makes my day!


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